Disputes revived over nomination of new Justice minister in Romania

Romania’s governing Liberals gathered on Monday to analyze the case of Norica Nicolai, the Liberal nominee for the seat of Justice minister, whom President Traian Basescu refuses to accept in office. After hours of deliberation, the Liberal leadership concluded that they still stood for Senator Nicolai but did no appeal the Constitutional Court to unlock the relation between the presidency and the government over the nomination.

Among the solutions initially put forward by Liberal party members were to appeal to the Constitutional Court to end the conflict between the presidency and chancellery. House speaker Bogdan Olteanu, a Liberal, had also advanced the hypothesis that the government might appeal as high as to the High Court of Justice.

However, Liberals rejected the presidential solution to let the Parliament cast a confidence vote for Norica Nicolai. They argued that the Legislative can only intervene when the government changes its political component or reshuffles.

Meanwhile, the conflict between the Presidency and the government over judicial issues continues: President Traian Basescu warned Teodor Melescanu, who serves as interim Justice minister, again on Monday that he had no right to censure his decisions nor verify the legality of the documents signed. The scandal broke out last week when Melescanu refused to launch the criminal procedures against eight former and current ministers investigated by anti-graft prosecutors.

Thus, Basescu warned Melescanu to accuse him of abuse in office and launch an investigation against him.